It’s Time to Start Talking About Harry Potter Again (What’s the Deal?)

The Harry Potter franchise is the second biggest in movie history, behind only the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That means the boy that lived has made more than Batman, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Transformers, Spider-man, The Fast and the Furious, Pirates of the Carribean, Jurassic Park and… well every other franchise ever. The distinction Potter has however is that it has the highest average gross per film of any franchise, with more than $965 million. That’s impressive to say the least, and with numbers like that, the franchise was never going to stay gone for long…

I’m sure most people reading this already know that the franchise is (sort of) returning in November 2016 in the form of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a film that both already has a sequel, and has claimed the much coveted Hunger Games release spot, which is a good move by the studio. These films are going to be very loosely based on a text book featured in the series, which did sort of get a released in real life as a mock text book for charity. Good Karma!

This is a film I feel like not many people are talking about, but even as someone who isn’t a huge fan of the franchise (although I am a fan), I’m starting to think this film is going to be really good, and a much bigger hit than people are giving it credit for. Unlike the original films, these are going to be stories made specifically for the big screen, and they will basically follow the story of a man searching for rare monsters. That sounds awesome! Now let’s take a look at how it’s coming together…

We never got an answer to the will they / won’t they

Academy award winner Eddie Redmayne is playing the lead role, Newt Scamander (what were his parents thinking?). That’s a pretty good start. Now the supporting cast: Colin Farrell is probably going to be playing the villain, and Ron Perlman, Ezra Miller and Jon Voight are all in supporting roles. Even though none of them are huge box office draws, nobody’s going to argue the talent that’s involved. The film is also being directed by David Yates, director of the last four Harry Potter films, which are arguably the best in the franchise, and certainly the most adult.

There’s one more reason this is going to be a bigger hit than the lack of early buzz would suggest, and that’s the fan base. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a play that’s going to be on in London in summer 2016, and the tickets recently went on sale, but only for people who registered beforehand (they go on sale to the general public in a few weeks). I couldn’t believe how many people I personally knew that had signed up to this service. Even now, more than four years after the release of the last installment, there are fans that are desperate for more. You know what that reminds me of? Maybe we’ll be seeing some more pre-sale stories in the lead up to the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

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'Why would I not watch this?' The words Todd James said shortly before watching Pudsey the Dog: The Movie. Todd is a lover of all films, except bad ones, and spends more time in a dark room watching them than somebody so pale should.